Kiptopeke, Virginia

This watch site, managed by the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory and hosted by Kiptopeke State Park,
lies at the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. Birds moving south along the coast are funneled to this point at the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay. Monitoring and banding of raptors during the fall migration has been conducted there since 1977. It's probably
the best place in the world to see merlins, which feed upon the shorebirds and land birds that also accumulate in the area
each fall.

Timing Your Visit

The chart below shows the time periods when each species is most abundant. Please remember that the data is based on past records, and the passage of birds can vary greatly from year to year. Click on the name of a species to learn more about its migratory habits.